Enlightened
by Allora Silverfield
Summary: Follow Toni, a student at Violet City University, as she strives to become a pokemon researcher and pull herself out of her childhood poverty. At the end of her sophomore year of college, she will discover more about herself than she ever knew, or wanted to know.
1. Chapter 1

_She couldn't understand why she was so angry. And over such minor things; or at least things that she normally would have been calm about. But her brothers were being taken away by Child Protective Services because her lazy welfare-grubbing mother couldn't get off her ass and get a job, or do anything for that matter... She had plenty of reasons to be angry. But not like this... she felt as if she were on fire._

"_You are sending them to school in shoes that have holes in them and dirty smelly clothes that you can't even take the time to wash! Sending them to class without school supplies or even lunch?" she roared, her voice vibrating against the walls. Her chest felt hot._

"_Toni, I don't have enough money... Toni please calm down there's something I have to-"_

"_No!" Toni screeched. "I have been calm dealing with your bullshit for long enough. Just because Dad left and you can't get your act together..." She clenched her fists, her fingernails digging into her palms, drawing blood. But she barely felt it. She barely felt anything. "No wonder Christopher wants to become a trainer!" The heat in her chest had spread to her whole body._

_Her mother held her hands out, inching towards her daughter. Her daughter who had a violent energy almost pulsing around her. Her daughter whose eyes were darkening. "Toni, there is something important I have to tell you. You mustn't become so angry..."_

"_No." It was said darkly. "Anger is the only thing that can get through to you mother. I've stayed calm for too long. You have caused more pain and suffering in the lives of my brothers than in my own, and that in itself is a feat that you should be ashamed of. You don't deserve to be a mother!"_

_Her voice had risen in pitch until it was a screech like an eagle. At the word 'mother,' the unthinkable had occurred. Flames poured from her chest in an inferno, and in her passion the world shifted from red to black, until she faded into the all consuming rage._

The Ruins of Alph were well known for many reasons, but none of these reasons were comfort or convenience. The cold, dimly lit, difficultly accessed cave in which she knelt was anything but comfortable. The national reserve guidelines restricted the use of artificial lighting in the ancient caverns, and so, assisted only by the dim light projected from the back of her quilava, she diligently recorded her findings.

With it being too dark for pen and paper, she instead held a voice recorder in her left hand, speaking into it with the speed and proficiency of a doctor performing his observational dictation. "Outer chitin shell reveals arthropodal ancestry, while water pouches on the inner lining suggest water typing." Using her right hand, she motioned for the quilava to switch positions. It waddled closer, angling its head downward to brighten the fossil even more.

"Location and anatomy betrays a terrestrial habitat, which could suggest a rock or ground typing, as it has been found with both rhydon and graveler..." She released her finger on the recorder suddenly, the motion followed by a huge yawn. The pokemon on the ground reciprocated, and she smiled down at it. "Well, Honey, I think I might be ready to head back. I don't know if I can..." She yawned again, interrupting herself. "I don't know if I can keep going without falling asleep in the middle of the dictation."

Of course, she knew she would be back tomorrow morning to finish up. Toni wasn't one to procrastinate, and as she was getting paid for this taxonomic research, she wanted to get it finished as soon as possible.

She stood from the stone floor, stretching her arms over her head and yawning a third time. Honey used this time to rest, letting the fire on her back go out, and taking deep breaths in preparation for lighting their way out of the tunnel. Unlike the charmander line, whose members project natural and effortless flames from their tails, the cyndaquil family has to expand energy to ignite fire on their bodies. Not much energy, being fire types, but when sustained for lengthy amounts of time, it can be quite exhausting.

Honey and Toni had been in the dark cavern for hours, having started their exploration in mid-afternoon. The frigid outdoor temperatures were forgotten as they hiked deeper into the tombs, for because the catacomb was below the earth's surface, the temperature stayed a good 55 degrees year round. Now, they emerged from the depths into a cloudless night, and into the freezing weather.

"Good job Honey, return for now though, so you don't freeze," Toni said, holding out a pokeball and recalling her quilava in a flash of red light. A smirk slid onto her mouth, _Fire type, freeze, haha_, she thought, amused by her own joke. She stood by herself now, in the barren ruins, but not for long. The world was dangerous, especially at night, and especially alone.

"Stark, I need you," she said, quietly this time, not wanting any unwelcome visitors. The wind moaned through the leafless trees. The bright light from the pokeball cast instant, momentary shadows on the stone walls of the tombs, making the ruins, if possible, even more eerie.

The air felt instantly warmer as her starter pokemon appeared before her. She walked up to him, reaching up to scratch behind his ears. "Arcanine," he growled loyally, and she smiled up at him. The two touched foreheads.

"Let's go home, boy," she said warmly, and swung her leg up over his back, holding his mane for support. The fire type was as tall as a tall man, and faster than the wind. She made sure her coat was zipped before tapping his neck. They sped off into the night, back to Violet City University.

VCU had its small campus situated deep in the woods north of Sprout Tower. It was a public university, with red brick and ivy covered old style buildings. It had one of the most nature-friendly campuses in all of Johto, with the buildings appearing to grow right out of the woods. There were trees covering the grounds, and for every tree that was cut down for construction, two were planted somewhere on campus. And it was, and still is, one of the leaders in new world biological research. And of course, this is why Toni had decided to attend. Being a biologist wasn't going to be easy, as she was slowly realizing, but she worked diligently and loved what she did, making the effort worthwhile.

Stark was quick, bounding across the Sprout Tower Bridge faster than lightning. He loved to test his speed, especially with his trainer on his back. He made it back to her dorm in record time, lowering his body to the ground so she could dismount. He sat at attention, waiting. His giant fluffy tail thumped against the snow; like an overgrown puppy.

"Let's check... eight minutes and thirty two seconds!" she said, checking her watch. "Looks like a new record to me!" Stark licked her face, and she laughed, scratching his muzzle. "Good boy," she said, grinning hugely. "Come on, get in the ball so I can get upstairs, I'll let you out when we get inside."

The dorm building was simple, if even a little run down. It was one of the oldest on campus; the honors dorm. But it was heaven compared to her home. Toni had worked her ass off in high school, making straight A's, and getting enough financial aid to go to school for free. Half of that money came from her academic scholarship, while the other half she owed to her below-poverty-level status. Her single mother and two brothers were still living in a shanty neighborhood in the most poverty-stricken part of Goldenrod. Somehow, someway, she had gotten out of that hell hole and worked her way into college. She wanted to make the money needed to help them at least get out of that part of town, and into a nice apartment. Anything but that devalued garbage heap that was their home.

Face covered in doggy drool, she took the stairs, wanting to stretch her legs after being crouched in the cavern so long, all the way up to the fifth floor. The halls of the dorm were long and lined with bricks. The lights were dimmed during the night. She reached her arm behind her back, fumbling around in her bag's side pocket until she found her keys. The key on the left was for her P.O. box, and her fingers passed over that one to the key on the right, which she stuck in the keyhole and turned.

Having more than one pokemon had allowed Toni to reserve her own personal dorm room. Because she lived in the honors dorm (and most honors students were not interested in raising multiple pokemon) she was given a two person room without a roommate, instead of one of the special "trainer's rooms" that other dorms had built in. But she had made it work. On her side of the room was her bed, decorated brightly with green and yellow and pink neon decorations. She had two lamps, and a whole bunch of cushiony fluffy pillows on her bed. The walls all around the room were covered in posters and artwork, to cover up the bland and constricting feel of the brick walls.

On the right side of the room she had fixed up the other bed with a few small pokemon beds, and the floor between the two beds had a giant rug, with even more bean bags and blankets and cushiony colorful things. Her other four pokemon that had not come with her on her research expedition that day had diligently remained awake until she returned.

She tossed her bag onto her own bed, careful to avoid the fletchinder that was nestled up in her covers like a coop. "Chinder," she grumped, clearly not as wide awake as she was pretending to be. The young girl simply laughed, stroking the feathers on the bird pokemon's head.

"Love you too," she cooed sarcastically at the grumpy bird. Cynder puffed up her feathers more, tucking her face beneath her wing.

Suddenly, Toni's pant leg was being pulled and pecked at, and she looked down to find a fiery little chick just begging to be played with. "Why hello there sweety!" Toni squeaked happily, bending to pick up the tiny torchic. She held Cheep above her head like one might a little baby. "You're such a good girl! Yes you are! Oh yesh you are! Mmmuah!" She kissed the torchic right on the beak at that last bit, placing her down next to Cynder on the bed after she did so.

"Ugh, could you please not wriggle around so much?" Cynder moaned in poke-speak. Pokemon can speak to each other with complete understanding, but not to humans. Yet they can understand human speech. It is said to be a phenomenon attributed to their special, nearly magical powers.

"But Mommy is home!" peeped the tiny baby bird back at Cynder. Cheep had just been hatched by Toni herself, and was basically her baby. No one messed with Cheep, unless they wanted to have a face full of fist and an angry brunette plotting their demise.

The other bed was occupied as well by her last two pokemon. Blaze was seated in the bed next to Aurok, and the two were simply watching Toni babying Cheep. Blaze looked cheerful as ever, while Aurok, being Aurok, looked bored. Toni made sure to go over and greet the two before she settled in to finish her work, doting on Aurok first to cheer him up a little, though the deino's expression hardly changed. She could tell she had succeeded though, by the thumping of his tail.

Last, but not least, she talked with Blaze. The vaporeon was one of her first partners, and she knew that he would be most interested in her studies. She told him all of the interesting facts that she had learned that day about the fossil pokemon in the ruins, letting Stark and Honey out as well to listen, even though Honey already knew most of it. Even still, the quilava was a good listener, appearing engrossed in each and every detail.

Blaze listened intently, finned ears tuned completely in to every word she said. Cheep and even grumpy Cynder had gotten out of bed to come and cuddle up on the pokemons' side of the room. Soon, everyone but giant Stark was piled up on the bed, listening to Toni speaking so passionately about her work. The pokemon seemed to simply enjoy hearing their trainer tell them stories, even if they couldn't understand the complicated scientific words that she used.

"And so kabuto must have lived alongside omanyte, not only in the same time period but even in the same environment!" she concluded excitedly, replaying her findings over and over in her head.

"Vaporeon!" agreed Blaze, nodding his head. His neck frills quivered, as well as his tail fin, which Toni knew meant that he was stretching. Honey yawned, poor exhausted thing, and Toni laughed lightly to herself.

"Thank you guys for staying up to wait for me, it means the world to me that you all care. Especially after..." No, she wasn't going to think his name. It would only make her upset. "Thank you guys so much."

"Vapo!"

"Chinder."

"Canine!"

"Torchic chic!"

"Deino."

"Quilaaaaava," yawned Honey, and Toni laughed again.

"You guys go ahead and get ready for bed, I'm gonna go get ready myself." She shut off her big overhead light, turning on just one of the lamps to dim the room. Her pokemon settled back into their sleeping spots, Cynder now back on the pokemons' bed, curled up with her adopted chick, Cheep. Blaze and Aurok each had their own beds as well, and appeared to have already fallen fast asleep.

Stark slept on the rug on the floor, draped across the colorful beanbags and blankets that she had placed there just for him. He looked the coziest of all, snoring already, exhausted from his run.

But someone was missing. Toni felt a headbutt on her knee. She smiled down at Honey. "You wanna come with me?" she asked, a happy nod coming from the sleepy pokemon. Ever since one of Toni's old friends, Rachel, had given Honey to Toni when she was only a cyndaquil, the fire type had always felt that she needed to prove her loyalty to her new trainer. Toni thought about that sometimes, and it made her sad, because her actions meant that in some ways Honey must have felt abandoned by her old trainer, even though Rachel simply didn't have the time to care for her anymore.

Rachel wanted the best for her pokemon, and knowing that Toni had a passion for fire types, she had passed Honey along to her right before she had gone to school to become an engineer. Toni had gladly accepted, for she was already taking Stark and Blaze with her to school. Acquiring the other three had been wonderful random events indeed. She had never set out to have a full party of pokemon, but now here she was.

She shuffled down the hallway of the dorm, towards the bathroom, with her toothbrush in hand. She could feel the weight of the day baring down on her shoulders. It had been an early one, with her waking up around seven to get to her first class. Her 8am this Thursday had been pokemon genetics, a course that was one of her favorites. She had found out that day that she had gotten a perfect score on her final project that she had submitted on Tuesday. It was a difficult project; each student was allowed to pick a first stage pokemon, and they then had to breed that pokemon to have certain traits, as decided by their professor.

Toni had picked torchic as her model, and after several long months of selecting the correct items and the perfect parents for the job, she had been gifted with Cheep. The little torchic had the special ability speed boost, as well as a few select egg moves, and perfect genetics for her physical attacks and speed.

But she was completely oblivious to her superior genes, acting just like any other newborn pokemon. She was the cutest and most adorable thing Toni had ever seen, and she babied that torchic like it was her own. Having just been hatched less than a week ago, she was being raised by Toni's other pokemon whilst Toni finished up her school year. She couldn't wait to introduce Cheep to her little brothers during the winter break.

The community bathrooms were at the end of the hall, with only the girls restroom on her floor, as the floors were divided by gender. She wasn't at all concerned about her dirty research jeans or faded muddy T-shirt as she shuffled into the bathroom; all girls understand that you can't look cute _all_ the time.

She opened the bathroom door and saw her friend Sophia, buck ass naked, standing in front of the full length mirror against the wall. She didn't even flinch when Toni walked in. "Sophia... what are you doing?" said Toni, not even surprised.

"Ai, Antoinette!" she exclaimed, whirling around as if she had just noticed Toni come in. No shame, she simply stood, watching Toni head to one of the sinks. She was now admiring herself in the long half-mirror above the counter. "I just did not think that the light in my room was right... and I know it! For a second, I thought I had gain weight, hahaha!" she giggled to herself, as if it were the silliest thing in the world. "I did not think anyone would be in the bathroom this late!"

Ignoring Sophia's annoying habit of calling her by her full name (because 'it's so much sexier!') Toni rolled her eyes, glancing over at Sophia for a split second so she could simply assure her that she in fact hadn't gained weight. "No, you're fine Sophia, but could you please put some clothes on? Not all of us are as comfortable with our bodies... or general nudity, as you are."

Sophia turned, now observing her perfect curves from a different angle. "Si pareces? I thought that maybe I had... the scale said I did anyway. No se..."

"If you had gained weight anywhere it would probably be more in your boobs or ass," grumped Toni, getting annoyed. This made Sophia happy.

"Oh really? I was hoping they had gotten bigger!" she giggled. She now turned back to the front and grabbed her breasts, pushing them together and towards her chin. "Might need to move over to double D instead of single D!" she giggled again, jiggling her breasts in the mirror for her own amusement.

Toni rolled her eyes again, now feeling a bit self conscious about her own breasts. Sophia was what some people would call... voluptuous. A confident, hispanic woman, she stood a sassy 5'4, with the curves of a goddess. Toni couldn't help but wonder why Arceus had decided to give her even bigger breasts, but couldn't spare even a little bit more for Toni. She sighed, putting toothpaste on her toothbrush.

"Hi there chiquita!" Sophia squealed, noticing Honey for the first time.

"Qui!" greeted the quilava, waddling over to the naked woman, too innocent to think anything was strange. Sophia was Honey's favorite friend of Toni's, and she never turned down a head scratch.

With Sophia cooing at her pokemon in spanish, and Honey enjoying a free belly rub, Toni couldn't help but grin while she scrubbed her teeth. Sophia may have been vain and annoying, but she was Toni's best friend. The two had gone to school together in Goldenrod, and their friendship had transferred over to college when they realized they were attending the same one.

"So, amiga," Sophia said, still petting Honey and still naked. "How are you doing about..."

"It's fine," Toni mumbled through the foam in her mouth. Her ex boyfriend was the last thing she wanted to talk about.

Sophia nodded, understanding. "Men are losers, you didn't deserve that at all honey." Honey looked up, hearing her name, and Sophia giggled. "Not you, chiquita."

Toni nodded, blocking the thoughts from her head as she bent over to rinse her mouth. It didn't work very well, as she could see the tears when she sat back up, staring into her own green eyes in the mirror. She looked away, blinking fast, tilting her head down and allowing her wavy hair to fall forward and shield her eyes from Sophia. She didn't want her to know that thinking about him still got to her.

"I know I didn't," she replied, but speaking more to herself than to Sophia. She could feel her nose beginning to run, but resisted the urge to sniffle, instead wiping it with a paper towel. "I deserve better than that."

She thought she had done a good job of covering it up, but Sophia wasn't as naive as she projected herself to be. "Amiga," she began softly, standing up from her crouched position where she had been petting Honey. "It's okay to feel sad. When you love a man he get all your heart," She extended her hand out lovingly. "And when he leave he take it with him." She pulled her arm back suddenly, placing it over her own heart. She looked sadly at Toni, empathizing with her friend. "You have to be strong, love yourself! I love you like my sister."

Toni, still looking down into the sink, felt hands grasp around her waist in a tight hug. She glanced over to see totally naked Sophia grasped onto her waist in an attempt to make her feel better. She wasn't sure if she felt more comforted and touched by her friend's actions, or awkward that her bare breasts were squished up against her side. She decided to overlook the obvious, and gave her a half-hug back.

"Thanks, amiga," she said to Sophia, smiling and thankful for her friend. She felt another headbutt to her leg, and grinned down at Honey. "I'm fine girl," she told her pokemon, who even still leaned against her leg for support.

Sophia released, pulling back and smiling up at Toni. "If you ever need me for anything, I will be here to help," she said sincerely.

Toni smiled back at her and nodded. "Sophia..."

"Yes, chica?"

"Maybe now could you put some clothes on?"

After saying goodnight to her friend, Toni carried the completely exhausted Honey down the hall back to her dorm room. She had left the door unlocked, and crept in quietly so as not to wake any of her pokemon sleeping in the room. She felt her way to her bed, placing Honey down on the soft blankets, letting the fire type sleep with her that night.

Before getting some much needed sleep, she grabbed her laptop off her desk and switched it on, climbing in bed and covering herself in warmth while she waited for it to boot up. She wanted to check her grades before she fell asleep, so she could figure out a plan.

Toni was on an academic scholarship that required her to maintain a certain GPA to keep, and she knew that this semester she hadn't achieved that GPA. Luckily, the financial aid office didn't check grades until the end of the spring semester, so she still had a whole other half of a school year to fix it. But still... she had overloaded herself with science courses this semester, and that had been a mistake.

She felt the familiar tightness in her chest as she typed the web address in. "Let's see..." she mumbled, scrolling through the school's grade portal website. "A... C... C... B... C... B..." She counted the letters, mumbling quietly to herself, doing the calculations in her head. "That puts me at... 2.75... no wait that class is 4 hours, so 2.93..." Which was exactly .07 points away from her required GPA.

"Great," she mumbled, dejected. If she kept the same course load next semester, there was no way she would be able to keep her scholarship. She knew needed to take an easy course... something to boost her GPA so she could stay in school. It killed her; taking the easy way out was never her first choice. But she knew she had to in order continue going to VCU.

She began scrolling through the enrollment site, searching for a class to replace. She had already created her tentative schedule for next semester, but she still had time to change it. Once again, she had placed herself in all science and math courses to fit her biology major, but she knew that she was setting herself up for failure that way...

Taking organic chemistry and a chemistry lab _and_ chemistry 303 next semester was probably not the best choice. She stared hard at the three classes, thinking which would be easiest to drop and take the following semester. She couldn't drop the organic class, because that was the class that fed into the lab... chemistry 303 seemed like the most logical option, because it was its own course without anything else relying on it. Cringing, she moused over the class, selecting it, and clicking the 'remove' button. It was like ripping off a bandaid, and surprisingly afterwards she felt like she could breathe easier.

The real challenge then was finding a replacement class that she wouldn't completely hate. She wanted to take something relevant and interesting... In her head, she started going through her interests.

Having always loved writing, she knew it would definitely have to be a humanities course, for she knew she would excel in something she liked to do. Something where she could read or write... She thought hard. Reading old novels and writing book reports didn't sound too interesting, and neither did writing more research papers; she did enough of that in her biology class as it was.

She managed to narrow it down eventually to a couple of classes she could reasonably consider. The one she was most interested in was called 'Works of Fiction; Unravelled,' which, from the description, consisted of reading modern fictional novels and had a final project that included writing your own fictional short story. Excited, and happy that it fit right into her schedule, she jumped right in, signing up.

...Or at least trying to. The class was more popular than she had originally thought, already being full at that point in the enrollment period. She huffed to herself, glancing around quickly to make sure she hadn't woken anyone up. Discouraged, she signed herself up for the waiting list, which looked already to be long and not worth it to hold her breath.

This happened twice more, with two other classes that she had hoped to sign up for turning out to be the classes that everyone else wanted as well. _Of course,_ she thought, _the biology classes are the only easy ones to get into, since no one wants to in the first place._ Every single english and journalism major in the entire VCU system seemed to want to get into these three classes. Dejected, she moved on to her fourth choice.

"Pokemon, a Religious Exploration," she mumbled to herself, apprehensive. It looked easy enough, and with reading and writing included. And it was history, which she didn't mind. But she wasn't religious hardly at all, and wasn't quite sure the reading would be the most interesting thing in the world.

It wasn't that she didn't believe in Arceus; it was nearly impossible not to. She just wasn't interested in religion and its implications. She was a biology major after all; logic and reason were second nature. She had never had any interest in learning about The Arceon or its contents, for in her mind, how accurate could a book written by hundreds of people and over 4000 years old be?

But it seemed as if she had little choice, especially once she saw that the class wasn't even halfway full. She sighed quietly, and clicked the button to sign up. She only hoped that she could get that A. That was all she needed.

She raised her arms over her head, stretching and yawning. Oh how she wished she could sleep! But she wasn't yet done for the night, closing out of the school's enrollment site and opening up a Word document. She fished around in the dark on her nightstand for her voice recorder, put her head phones in, and clicked play. She listened to herself talking, and began to record her findings.

"Kabuto: A Taxonomic Study."


	2. Chapter 2

"Come on, Chris! You slowpoke!" called David as he sprinted away from the bus, his oversized pikachu backpack bouncing against his back with each step.

"Okay okay," his brother said, stepping off of the school bus and following him. The apartment wasn't too far from the bus stop he knew, but David always seemed to want to race for some reason. At 13, Christopher was getting too old for racing. Girls seemed to have fewer cooties, and he was getting more homework sent home. He was mature; and mature kids didn't race.

But it did bother him slightly when little David chanted; "I win you lose you snooze you lose!" when they reached the complex. Sighing, and almost wishing he had raced him to prove how much bigger and faster he was, he instead reached into his pocket, pulling out the gate key. He didn't know what use the gate was, since the people within the complex always seemed to be the ones who were stealing things, but he didn't question it too much. He just assumed it was one of the rules.

"Beatcha beatcha!" cheered David as they walked up the broken concrete steps. Three steps up to the porch, where door number seven was located. They were lucky enough to be on the first floor, for they had a small yard to play in, and a backyard too that led right into the woods, but was of course fenced in.

Mira barked, coming to the door as Chris unlocked it with a separate key. She recognized the boys of course, and instead looked past them as the door opened to make sure no one was going to follow them in. When the door closed, she turned back into her happy self. "Might mighteyena!" she barked, raising her butt up into the air, tail wagging.

"For a police dog, you sure are laid back," said Chris for the millionth time as he passed her, scratching behind her ear for just a second. David mimicked his brother, scratching her ear in the same spot and walking just like him over to the kitchen table. Chris glanced over into the living room, where she was sitting on the couch, three beers on the table and a fourth in her hand.

"Hi Mom," he said robotically. There was no response. Like most days, this didn't phase Chris.

David, however, was more animated. He swung his backpack off onto the table, and ran over to the living room. "Hey Mommy! Guess what I did at school today!" She angled her head slightly to the kitchen, acknowledging the boys for the first time. She didn't respond to David, but caught Chris's eye, which was glaring in her direction.

David ran right up to her, pulling on her oversized T-shirt. "They let us see a real pikachu today in class Mommy!" He pointed over to the kitchen, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Just like on my pack pack!"

She grunted in response, appearing more annoyed with his pulling and bouncing than interested in his story. Her beer spilled slightly on the floor. "Aw look Davey look what you did to my beer!" she groaned, more concerned with losing drinkable beer than getting it on the nasty, stained floor. "Go get Mommy a napkin from the kitchen."

"Okay!" he said, cheerful as ever, nearly skipping to the kitchen with a smile on his face. Christopher looked completely disgusted.

"I'm going to do homework," he said, pulling out a pokeball and releasing his partner, Bilbo. Toni had brought him back from Kanto for Chris when he was just a squirtle. Chris had never forgotten and would never forget the kindness of his big sister for that. She knew he wanted to be a trainer, and Bilbo had been the best birthday present he could have ever asked for.

He had even evolved him all the way into a wartortle. It was said that only real trainers could evolve pokemon, and the 13 year old used that fact in his favor, believing that it meant it was his Arceus given right to train pokemon. The wartortle followed his trainer to his room, where Chris slammed the door behind him.

Ms. Carbone didn't even flinch. She snatched the paper towel from David when he brought it to her, mopping up the beer from her T-shirt and giving it back to him to throw away. He ran back to the kitchen, eager to please his mother.

Betty stood from the couch and stretched, extending her tail fully, before she jumped off and went to go see David. She had never particularly liked Ms. Carbone, seeing how she treated David. She was his best friend, after all, and it was her job to make sure he was happy, even if his mother didn't. She slunk by her, watching as she cleaned herself off, leaving the beer on the floor, staining the already discolored carpet.

"Sentret!" she chirped, getting David's attention. He turned to her after throwing the paper towel away, giggling. He bent to pick her up, petting her head as she wrapped her long tail around his arm.

"Betty how was your day! You hungry girl?" he asked, bending under the sink for the poke-food. The box was mostly empty, but he poured out some into her bowl anyway, filling the other bowl with water. He sloshed a little on the floor, being barely able to carry the large water pitcher at his age. But even then, he still took better care of that pokemon than his mother ever did.

He placed her on the floor, and she padded over to the bowl, eating quickly and drinking deeply while David watched her with love. His mind flashed to the day when Nini had told them all that she had gotten a good scholarship, and would be going away to college. She had brought Betty with her that day, to help ease the pain of the news, having caught her in the woods just outside of Goldenrod to give to her brother. David's Nini knew that he would need someone to watch out for him while she was gone, and she figured giving him a pokemon to take care of would not only give him a guardian, but would also teach him some responsibility.

It was always Nini that looked out for David. Their mother had never paid much attention to him, or cared what he did. But he didn't have a sour bone in his body, loving everything about life and absorbing it all like a sponge. She had done her best, teaching David how to microwave things, and wash his own clothes, and how to handle money best. But there was only so much she could do before she had to go and begin her life in college. She trusted Betty to keep him out of trouble.

"Let's go play girl? Huh? You want to?" he cooed to her, patting her on the back as she finished her food. Her long tail stood high in the air, curved just at the tip, showing she was completely content. "Let's go!" He picked her up, squeezing her like a teddy bear.

Betty was more focused on not barfing as he carried her to his room. He was squeezing her awful hard, and she wheezed a little, trying to catch her breath. She didn't mind, however, knowing he was happy carrying her around

David knocked on the door to his room. "Christopher, let me in!" he said in a sing-song voice. There was some shuffling around, and the door was unlocked, with Christopher letting his brother into their shared room. He slammed it behind him, locking them both in and away.

Melissa Carbone sighed as the door banged shut, wishing that her two kids weren't so loud. The TV was the only source of light, and it flashed blue and pale, making the room appear even more bland if possible. She stared at it, mouth slightly open, not fully comprehending what was going on. She was six drinks in, and not quite done yet.

The announcer on the TV was frustrating her. She wasn't quite following what he was saying, but recognized that he was hosting a matchmaking game show. "And now, show us please, who was behind door number oneeeeeeeee~!" The crowd cheered. A door opened. A man was inside. He rushed out and picked the girl up off of her feet, swinging her in a circle and kissing her deeply. "Congraaaaaatulationsssss~!" the announcer proclaimed. "You have found your true love!"

At this, Ms. Carbone snorted, taking another gulp from the can. "Please," she muttered, voice raspy. She felt around her body for the remote, but it was nowhere to be found. She finally saw it, halfway across the room. She sighed. "Unbelievable," she grumbled, and debated yelling across the house for David to come and get it for her, but she didn't know if she had the energy to yell that loud, or if they would even hear her. She frowned, standing up slowly. "The work I do..." she mumbled, taking a few steps and leaning over to get the remote. She snatched it up with her bony fingers, and clicked the TV off. The room was dark.

Mira trotted into the room on her paws, mail between her teeth, placing it in front of her owner on the table, and sitting to await her next order. She didn't know much, except that her owner never seemed to leave the house much, and the boys often talked of being hungry. She knew if she had her own pups, they would never complain of hunger. But that was her own opinion, an opinion that she wouldn't voice even if she could. She had her orders, she was a guard dog, she held her tongue.

"Good girl, Mira," rasped Ms. Carbone, picking up the letters and flicking on the lamp beside her. It was a brighter light than from the TV, and due to her having been sitting in the dark all day, she squinted when it turned on. Mira still remained sitting by her feet, waiting for a new command.

There was junk mail, a few religious post cards, a magazine, and a few letters. The first was from the apartment complex, stating that she was still behind on her last payment, and she would need to take the money to them as soon as possible, or they would be evicted. A sum of... "10,000 pokedollars?" She nearly had a stroke. "That's almost... a weeks worth of food!" Or booze, is what she really meant. She scratched her greasy blonde hair with her long fingernails.

In her bedroom, in a box, was some reserve money that she had put away. It was for emergencies, like one of the kids getting hurt, the house burning down, their belongings being stolen, and of course not having enough money for the alcohol to last her through a week. "Mira, fetch me the savings box off of my dresser." It wasn't like she could simply stop drinking for a week, instead of dipping into their emergency savings fund. No, she needed the alcohol. It was an emergency, and of this she convinced herself thoroughly.

Mira leapt into the master bedroom, carefully stepped around the piles of clothes and trash on the floor, and searched for the savings box. There were quite a few things piled up on her nightstand, most of which included her many prescription pills, a few beer bottles, and an Arceon. Mira frowned, but ignored the sick feeling in her stomach. She stood on her hind legs, placing her paws on the table, to get a better look. Aha! Behind the bottles was a small jewelry box, with faded pink flowers and a clefairy on the top. She reached her head over the other items on the table, grasping the box with her teeth, and carrying it back out of the room to Ms. Carbone.

The old lady, or at least old looking to Mira, took the box from the guard dog and thanked her once again. Being only 40, Ms. Carbone wasn't exactly old, but to the eyes of others, she could easily have been 60. But her youthful appearance was the last thing on her mind. She fished through the box, taking out ten 1,000 pokedollar bills. She rolled them up, taking her hair tie out of her hair and wrapping it around them to keep it together. She tore a scrap off of the envelope, and scribbled a note on it with a broken pencil. "Take this to the office," she commanded Mira, who nodded, leaving the apartment without any questions.

She placed the notice down on the table beside her, and picked up the next letter. Her heart fluttered at the handwriting, which she would know anywhere. She eagerly tore it open, desperate to read his words, the words that come so infrequently, yet make her feel warm again each time she reads them. She read the letter, smiling for the first time in weeks, and with her smile getting broader each word she saw.

Of course he mentioned Toni, not knowing about the two boys. He cared about their daughter it seemed more than anything in the world, but with good reason, she knew. He said little about what he was doing in his life, but she knew he couldn't tell her much about it anyway because of the laws. The fact that he could sneak her letters every few months was enough for her.

She was elated, feeling like a teenage girl, when she read the last lines; "I am sure you remain as beautiful as you were when I first laid eyes on you, my lady. My heart is and remains forever yours. -H"

But then... she frowned. As beautiful? It only seemed to click then in her own mind how badly she had let herself go, and it was the first time that she actually felt sad about it. The emotions flooded back... sadness... anger... loneliness... frustration... isolation... depression... She stared at the handwritten script, tears forming in her eyes. It was hopeless, thinking he would ever return like he had promised...

Hopeless, thinking he wasn't like all the rest. Hopeless... her belief that if he returned he would want her like she is now. The tears in her eyes turned to tears of anger, and she released a harsh breath of air, almost sounding like a growl. She took the letter and tore it up, instead of saving it like she had the rest of his letters. The physical action of tearing it up seemed to calm her, and by the time she had finished, she had shut off her emotions again, for she had learned that this was the best way to keep from getting hurt. She took a few deep breaths, and grabbed another letter.

The last letter was from the Goldenrod Public School System. Curious, she opened it slowly, not sure what emotions were going to try and assault her this time. As she read, it was harder and harder to suppress them.

Ms. Carbone,

It has come to the attention of the school board that your two sons, Christopher Carbone and David Carbone, have been ill equipped to attend Goldenrod Academy's middle and elementary schools, respectively. Teachers and other staff have noticed the following shortcoming, in no particular order:

1. Student attends school without school meal plan yet also without packed lunch.

2. Student attends school without proper materials for classes such as pencils or paper.

3. Student attends school wearing unsuitable clothing, namely without coats in the winter, without socks, and without pants that fit correctly.

4. Student's shoes are unacceptable due to holes in the material.

5. Student's clothes are unwashed for days on end / student wears the same clothing items repeatedly as if they have no other items.

These are each in themselves grounds for a suspension of your rights as a parent. As a school, we offer parenting classes that you can attend, and provide assistance in the form of jobs to parents without sufficient income. Government records show that your pension you receive in the mail for disability as well as being a single parent is more than enough to provide those basic items for your two children. However, if you need extra money to do so, we as a community encourage you to apply for jobs in the area, including at the Academy.

In four month's time, a follow up will be done on your children, if those five issues haven't been resolved, CPS will be presented with the rights to remove your children from your household.

Thank you for your time,

The community and staff at Goldenrod Academy

Ms. Carbone re read the letter a few more times, suppressing the emotions within her each time, until she could read it without reaction. "Like hell they're going to take my kids," she said monotonously, tossing the letter to the floor. "I am an excellent mother."

A few raindrops hit the windowpane as the letter hit the carpet, getting slightly wet from the beer spilling earlier. Mira ran in, making it just in time before the rain began to pour. With the TV off, the drumming sound of the rain was all encompassing. It sounded almost like static.

"Throw this away, Mira, and then you're done for the day," she muttered, emotionless, not wanting to deal with the mighteyena for the rest of the day. The black pokemon shuffled forward, gathering pieces of paper in her mouth and running them to the trash can.

Toni had spent a decent amount of money in Hoenn to get Mira, a fully trained police mighteyena, for her family. Stark was adept at keeping burglars and worse away from their house, but when she left she knew they would need another guard dog. Her senior class field trip had taken her to Hoenn, where she had gotten the chance to meet the chief of police; Officer Jenny. Their conversation came around to her home situation, and Jenny empathized with Toni, giving her a steep discount on their newest trained dog, Mirabella.

She was trained to only follow commands, not resist orders, and not relax until she was told she could be done for the day. And after she finished throwing away the scraps of paper and junk mail, she headed straight for the boys' room, pawing at the door. Christopher let her in, coming out into the kitchen after she entered, closing the door behind him. Bilbo in his arms, he made his way to the refrigerator.

"What's for dinner, Mom?" he asked blandly. No response. He opened the fridge to find a pack of sliced cheese, a few cases of beer, a couple juice boxes, some sliced turkey, and a few miscellaneous condiments. He shut the fridge, noticing their lack of bread. "Mom?" he repeated, irritated.

"You're gonna have to make something," she said, void of emotion. Angrily Chris began to pace towards her.

"I've 'made something' for the last week Mom..." he said. "We don't have anything left to 'make.' What about going to the grocery store?"

In response, she reached into the emergency funds, not caring anymore, and pulled out a 1000 pokedollar bill. "Go get you something from the store, then," she said, irritated.

"Me?" he said, sarcastically. "Mom I'm only thirteen, remember? I can't even handle myself enough to become a trainer. How do you expect me to walk through the ghettos of Goldenrod, by myself, to buy groceries, at thirteen?" He had reached the couch at that point, grabbing the money from her hands. He felt the wet carpet beneath his bare feet, and stepped back, disgusted.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You know that's completely different. Training is dangerous and I forbid you to-"

"Dangerous?" he yelled, startling her. "Me raising trusted friends and partners to protect me is more dangerous that walking the streets of Goldenrod alone, at night, in the rain, to buy your lazy ass groceries?"

_Slap!_

Christopher pulled back, his face red, more angry than in pain. "Do not speak to your mother that way!" she shrieked at him. "Pokemon are dangerous and untrustworthy, especially wild, untamed ones, and as your mother I forbid you to train!"

Christopher opened his mouth, but closed it again with a snap, before he said the unthinkable. He held his breath, turning and storming out of the front door of the house, grasping Bilbo in his arms.

"You don't deserve to be a mother," he breathed to himself once he was outside, having held the words in. He shivered in the cold December rain. Proud of himself for having been mature, he began to walk through the pouring rain, shoeless, to the Golden Mart.

"Keep an eye out, Bilbo," he said, setting the wartortle down beside him. He pulled his hood up over his head, and walked.


	3. Chapter 3

A week or so later, early in the morning, Toni woke up, eager for her results. "Are you ready, guys?" Toni asked her pokemon, unhooking her laptop from its charger and moving towards the rug in the center of the room. She sat heavily down on one of the bean bags, booting up her computer while her pokemon gathered around her.

Stark sat behind her, his fully outstretched body nearly touching both of the beds. He leaned his head over her shoulder, giving her a comforting lick. No matter what happened, he was proud of his trainer. He saw how hard she worked every day, how dedicated she was, and was going to be there to support her.

Cheep climbed onto her legs, feathers resting against the keyboard slightly, but not enough to cover any of the keys. She resisted the urge to peck at the keyboard as she had so often been told not to do. She instead puffed up her feathers slightly and snuggled into Toni's lap.

The rest of the crew gathered around the computer, pushing and climbing to try and get the best seat, and the closest to Toni.

"Move your fins, Blaze," groaned Cynder in poke-speak.

"I can't! Here lemme turn my head... better?"

"It would be if it wasn't blocking me," Aurok yawned.

"Oh, you're emo bangs block your eyesight anyway," snapped Cynder.

Aurok flicked his head, moving his black hair out of his eyes for just a moment to look Cynder in the eyes. His eyes were dark and sinister, with a red pupil in the middle. "Is this better, Cynder?" he asked dangerously. Cynder leaned back, eyes wide and frightened, and Aurok laughed. "Come on, you baby, don't pee yourself there."

"Ugh, you guys, come on, just get along," said Honey softly. She was the self proclaimed mother of the group, trying always to keep the peace, and keep everyone happy. She waddled up next to Toni, beside Cheep, leaning her head on her trainer's lap.

Toni, not understanding any of this, was fidgeting in the middle, trying to adjust so everyone could see. The clamor of pokemon noises was rising, and she could barely hear herself think. "Quiet down, you guys!" she said, voice raised so they could hear her. They didn't, and continued to argue.

Stark wasn't as patient as she was. "Arca_nine._" "She said _quiet_," he barked at the group. His deep voice was commanding, and they all shut up. Stark was nice when he wanted to be, and was generally laid back, but not when it came to disobedience. He was a dog after all., and an Arcanine to boot. In the silence, he looked back at the computer, patiently waiting, giant fluffy tail wagging.

"I still can't see," grumbled Cynder quietly, and she flapped up to land on Stark's head. He didn't mind, as long as she was quiet. She nestled into his hair. "Now this I can live with. Now if only Toni had a smaller head..." Stark looked up, glaring at the bird.

"Don't make me eat you," he said, only half joking.

"What, it's not like she understands us anyway," said Cynder. She forced out a laugh, trying not to think about the canine pokemon's large pointy teeth.

Stark smiled to himself. Cynder was definitely the most fun to mess with. She tried to act tough and mean, but was actually scared of most everything. Though she would never admit it. "Lighten up, bird brain," he said, tossing his head.

"Yeah, yeah, I am," she grumbled.

The computer had finally booted up, and she began to click through the options. When she reached the page for her transcript, she looked around. "Ready, guys?" she asked quietly. Honey nudged her hand, and everyone else nodded in support. "Okay," she breathed, clicking on the link. Blaze arched his finned tail over his head, bending up the tail flippers, the equivalent of a human crossing their fingers.

She read over the grades, and breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the end. "A, B, C, C, B," she repeated to herself, as if to make it real. "Just barely guys, we made it!"

"Vaporeon!"

"Dei!"

"Tooor-chic chic!"

"Quila!"

"Chinder."

"Arca arcanine!" Stark cheered, licking the side of her face. Everyone was excited, jumping up from their seats and dancing around the room. Toni stood, laughing with everyone else, and jumping around as well, enjoying the energy. Cheep ran to go jump on the bed with Blaze, who picked the torchic up with his tail and tossed her into the air and onto the cushions. She was only two feet tall, and couldn't quite climb on the bed herself just yet.

"Mommy did it! Mommy did it!" she cheeped, running in circles.

Blaze laughed, his neck frills rippling. "Yes she did, and we are all very proud of her!" He sat down, watching Cheep and now Aurok as well clamoring on the bed.

The deino climbed onto the bed roughly, and plopped down, sitting. "Cheep could you... can you just... Cheep!" he said, annoyed, as the torchic ran around him in circles, jumping on his back and using it as a diving board to dive back into the pillows.

"Mommy made it!" she chanted, landing on a particularly fluffy pillow and giggling to herself. Aurok rolled his eyes, though no one could see anyway because they were under his hair.

"Yes, she did it, we all knew she would," he said grumpily. "Now could you just... Ow!" he groaned, as Cheep slipped off his back, stabbing one of her talons into his toe. She immediately climbed off, looking at the scratch mark.

"I'm sorry..." she said, looking down, feathered crest lowered. Aurok sighed, a softy at heart.

"It's okay, but can you _please_ calm down?" he asked. She nodded, sitting on her rump and kicking her feet at the edge of the bed.

Stark sat in the center of the room, tail thumping against the ground. Being eight feet tall, he could only sit in the center of the room, where the ceiling was highest. Cynder remained sitting on his head. "I like this view," she said, still nestled into his mane of hair. "And so soft too... Hey what kind of conditioner do you use?" she asked, teasing.

The arcanine snorted, flicking his head and knocking her off. "Woah!" she cried, extending her wings and floating to the ground. "Unnecessary," she grumbled, flapping to perch on top of the wardrobe.

Honey came up to Stark and sat between his giant paws. "She did it, we can stay," she said softly. He nodded, understanding.

"I'm just glad she decided not to kill herself next semester with those science classes... Maybe a religious course will be good for her," Stark mused, watching Toni playing with Cheep on the other bed. Honey looked up at him, eyes narrowed. "What," he said defensively. "It's not like she can understand us. And besides, it would be. There's more to religion than just miracles. There's hope. And she needs it, from the looks of her childhood..."

"Okay, guys, time to pack!" Toni announced, standing after having been tickling Cheep in the belly. She walked over to her bed, pulling out a suitcase. "We don't need everything... just stuff for the road, and my clothes," she instructed, as everyone in the room was now going crazy folding and bringing her clothes. She herself began going through her traveling supplies in her bag, taking an inventory.

She had money, food, bedding, water... "Shit," she groaned, pulling out her water bottle, complete with a giant crack down the side. "That I will need..." she mumbled. "Cynder?"

The fletchinder floated down on her black and gold wings, landing on Toni's bed. Toni pulled out a couple 100 pokedollar bills. "Get to the convenience store before it closes and see if you can get me a water bottle, got it?" she asked.

"Fletch fletchinder." "Yeah, I got it," she grunted. Gently, she took the money in her beak, and hopped over to the window. Toni opened it wide, and she leapt, extending her wings. "Whoo hooo!" she cried, loving the open air. She folded her wings back, diving until she almost hit the ground, and then flaring them open to skim just above the snow.

Toni watched scared as Cynder dove for the ground, but smiled and shook her head when the flying type pulled up, letting out a screech of excitement. She shut the window again, keeping out the cold air. "Alright, let's finish this up," she said.

Cheep was left to watch, as her wings were too small to fold clothes with. Stark, Blaze, and Honey folded and stacked on top of Aurok's back, where he ferried clothes over to Toni. She packed up her bag to the brim, pleased by their efficiency. "It's going to take us two days walking to make it back home..." she explained, packing up the bag. "We can stop at the pokeathalon dome for the night. But that means we have to leave... in the next fifteen minutes. Got it?" she asked. Everyone nodded, bringing her the last of their supplies. "Good."

**Cynder **landed in the window of the store, walking through the pokemon flap to get inside. It was much warmer in the artificial heat of the mart, and she puffed up her feathers, enjoying the heat. "Now where..." she mumbled to herself, searching for the pokemon help. "Aha!" She flapped across the store, landing on the counter in front of a machop.

"Hi," she said politely, looking up at him. He was close to four feet tall, and just a foot taller than the bird pokemon when standing on her talons. "Um, could you use your opposable thumbs and help me find a water bottle?"

"Sure," he said helpfully, and walked her over to the section, where she picked out one that was an exact copy of Toni's. She paid, and put the change inside of the water bottle to take it back to the dorm, thanking the machop for his help. He helped her over to the window flap, and assisted her in hooking the bottle onto her talons. She thanked him one more time, and pushed herself through the hole, flapping hard to get air born.

She soared high into the sky, wanting to stretch her wings as much as possible. She had been in the room for days, and being a bird pokemon, was addicted to the freedom of flying. The air was cold, and there weren't many thermals to help balloon her upward. She had to work for her height, and her wing muscles burned, but she enjoyed the pain.

"Shiny!" she heard faintly, and turned her head. Eyes widening, she quickly turned around and flapped the opposite direction. But their momentum was in their advantage, and she could hear them gaining on her. "Shiny! Shiiiiny! Shinyshinyshiny!"

She turned to steal another glance at the flock of spearow heading her direction. "What the fuck are they talking about 'shiny?'" she groaned, looking at herself. She caught a glint from her foot, and raised the water bottle. The coins that she had gotten as change were shining in the sunlight, and she cursed. "Really. These fucking wild spearow are about to attack me over ten cents?"

"Shiny! Shiny! Shiny!" she heard cawing from behind her. She knew she wouldn't be able to out-fly them, and needed a plan. She decided on superior intelligence, and scanned the ground for Toni's dorm. Seeing it, she slowed down, knowing she would need to time things right.

"Shiny!" she heard from right behind her, and she dropped, folding her wings and diving to the ground. A few of the spearow overshot her, and the flock all turned to dive. She was counting on technology to work in her favor as she dove for Toni's window. Pokemon that have been captured by humans are granted sentience and intelligence, almost to the level of humans. Some even argue that they are more intelligent than people. Wild pokemon, however, maintain a very basic childlike intelligence, and basic levels of thought.

Cynder, for example, knew that the sky did not continue on into the reflection of the window. It was a reflection. The spearow, however (she hoped,) did not know that. _They probably think it__'__s a portal to another dimension or some shit,_ she thought, speeding downward. And as she dove towards the glass, she prayed that her reaction time would be enough.

**Toni** sat now in a group with the others, discussing their plan for the day. Everyone was on the floor in front of her, watching as she zipped up her bag on the bed. "And Stark will carry the bag latched on his back," she continued. "And Cynder will be a-"

"Duck!" cried Blaze, who to Toni sounded like she said; "Vaporeon!"

She laughed, shaking her head. "Cynder won't be a Vaporeon, silly, she'll..." She caught the look in Blaze's eye, and turned.

Cynder was diving right towards the window, and Toni flinched when she neared it, expecting an impact. But Cynder flared her wings and banked against the wall, swinging with her momentum in the opposite direction. The giant pack of spearow, on the other hand, was not so lucky.

_Thwack! Thwack! Thwackthwackthwackthwackthwack! _ Over and over again they slapped into the window, falling unconscious to the tiered roof below. There had to have been at least 20, and everyone in the room just watched them as they smooshed into the glass, like a train wreck. They couldn't look away.

After they were all through, Cynder lazily floated back to the window, eyes bright. Everyone in the room was staring, mouth wide. Even Aurok, who's vision was terrible, having heard the whole thing, was staring and gaping.

"Guys, look! I got them!" Cynder said, floating and lighting gracefully on the windowsill. "Those dumbasses. And I got this!" Toni opened the window for her to come in, shutting it quickly in case any more spearow got any ideas. "Here you go!"

"Chinder fletchinder!" Cynder said, raising her talon and handing Toni a water bottle full of change. Toni, still shocked, burst into laughter.

"You, just, wow," was all she had to say, taking the completely unscathed water bottle from her pokemon. She looked back out of the window, at the pile of unconscious spearow on the ground. "Let's hope this doesn't count as pokemon cruelty, and get the hell out of here."

**It **was warm for a December day, with a bright sunshine coupled with snow on the ground. The reflection was nearly blinding. The lack of wind and warm sunshine made it almost an enjoyable walk. And walk they did.

Cheep, Aurok, Blaze, and Honey had elected to stay in their pokeballs for the walk. Some because they couldn't walk that far without getting tired, some because their strides were short and they would slow everyone down, and some because they just didn't want to walk that far.

Stark and Cynder, however, stayed outside to assist Toni and keep her safe. During the day, walking through the woods wasn't too bad, especially when staying on the path. Besides, Stark was big and intimidating enough that nothing would think about messing with them. They only really had to worry about the dangers of the road at night, and that was the exact reason why Toni had elected to splurge a little and spend the night at the Pokeathalon hotel.

For lunch, she only needed to feed her two pokemon that had been walking with her. Within a pokeball, the metabolic rates of a pokemon's body slow to a near stop. Minor injuries are healed, the need for food or drink is repressed; it is truly a remarkable device.

Pokemon can eat both pokefood and human food, but humans cannot eat pokemon food. There are vitamins within the food that are toxic to us, but not to them. Toni had a cold sandwich for herself, and a bag of food that she divided between Cynder and Stark. They ate hungrily, glad for the break, resting and stretching before setting off again.

Stark carried Toni's bag on his back, strapped on with a harness. She had invested in a harness for many reasons, but this practical use was by far the most important. It was comfortable on his back, for it didn't rub, and he was large enough for it not to be a significant burden as he walked. Cynder joked from atop his mane that he was the "luggage bitch," and she got tossed in the air for that one.

"Call me that again, and you'll be barbecued," he growled playfully.

Cynder laughed cautiously, nervous. "Yeah... su-sure I will. Ha ha..." she said, floating back down to his head, where she perched and settled back in.

In the woods, the arcing trees kept much of the snow off of the path, having caught most of it up in the canopy, where the sun melted it off. It was a warmer day, and the melting snow would occasionally drip on the trio. It wasn't terrible, simply annoying, and they sighed in relief when the finally exited the woods of route 36. Here, out in the open, there was more snow on the ground, but none falling on their heads.

Stark's paws left giant prints in the powder, and Toni smiled when she saw them. Her starter had come so far, from being a scared, cold, and sick growlithe on the streets of the Goldenrod, to a handsome, intimidating, and confident pokemon that could hold his own with almost anything. Toni's mother never had liked Stark when she brought him home, saying that they had enough mouthes to feed. She demanded that Toni take him back out to the streets, but Toni refused, asking for just a week for the fire type, until he was healthy and strong again. Reluctantly, her mother agreed, though still distrustful of the pokemon. Of all pokemon.

Well it had been a good thing that Stark had stayed for that week. Just a few days into his stay, a burglar tried to break in and steal from them. Stark, who had been awake in the kitchen, bit him in the leg and chased him back out the window from which he had come. After that, Ms. Carbone had warmed up to Stark, and decided to let him stay, becoming more open to the idea of having pokemon in the house. And since then, they hadn't had any problems with thieves.

It was just after sunset when they reached the Pokeathalon Dome. Known throughout the pokemon world, the Pokeathalon trials were taxing and rewarding, with the different champions of the various trials being world renowned. They are challenging and fun to watch, with people flocking from all six regions to watch the events. Each event is held during a different part of the year, with a two month hiatus during the summer. The events are televised around the world, and that cold December, it was only two weeks before the Speed Trial Championships.

Toni shivered as a breeze assaulted her when she entered through the automatic sliding doors of the dome. The pushing wind from the inside served to keep the chilly December weather outside, but it was also freezing cold. She sighed in relief when she got through it, feeling the warm heated air on her skin. She unzipped her coat and pulled off her gloves, letting her skin feel the warmth. She returned Cynder, keeping out Stark so he could carry her luggage to her room once she rented one.

She approached the front desk, tucking her gloves into her purse and pulling out her wallet. The room itself wasn't to expensive, at least the one she rented. Because it was still two weeks before the Speed Trial Championships, the Dome was in a relatively empty transition period. There were a few amateur and practice competitions running, most of them being very inexpensive and run by the Dome itself, letting amateur and beginner trainers test the equipment before the professionals. But otherwise, that last week or so was to be spent cleaning up and preparing for the big competition.

Once she had rented her single room, she was forced to return Stark (who couldn't quite fit in the elevator) and use a luggage cart to carry her bag. The third floor bell buzzed, and she found her room very easily. It was eerie how empty the halls were, and how clean everything was, but she ignored it, letting herself into her room and unloading her things.

The room was small, with just enough room for a bed and TV, with a small door leading off to her own personal bathroom. The dim lighting revealed a yellowish color scheme (the speed trial symbolic color,) with photos of racing pokemon hanging on the walls. Toni had no doubt that all of the rooms in the entire hotel section of the Dome were themed in this way for the upcoming competition.

There was a large window on the far side of the room which she opened, raising the blinds to look outside. It was chilly, and she only let the wind in for a split second before deciding better of it and closing it up again. She left the blinds open, staring out at the glittering city in the distance.

Goldenrod was still miles away from the Dome, but its bright flickering lights were clearly visible in the night sky. The tallest building, the radio tower, stood out above the rest, with a repeating flashing red light from the very tip, betraying the existence of an antenna above where the building appeared to end. Beside it, the second tallest building, the Goldenrod convenience store, even appeared dwarfed. The radio tower was by far Goldenrod City's pride and joy.

Toni smiled, thinking and remembering her days in the city. The nights she would sneak out with her friends and climb on the roof of the highest building they dared, just to look out over the trees into the distance. Sometimes, on very clear nights, you could even see Sprout Tower in the far distance, bathed in moonlight. She remembered digging the hole under the backyard fence, covering it with a board for later. She told her brother Christopher about the hole, and he would sneak out sometimes to train Bilbo in the woods. She never told her mother about the hole, and she still didn't know it was there.

She remembered walking her brothers home, and helping to sneak them extra food during dinner, whenever they got dinner. She frowned slightly. She remembered stealing canned vegetables from the convenience store so they would have dinner at night. She remembered going through the trash behind Ponyta's Pizza Palace at night when they would throw out their unsold pizzas, bringing them home to share with her family as a special treat. She remembered stealing money from her mother's booze fund, using it to buy new shoes for her brother's birthday 'from her mother,' so he would think she bought him a birthday present…

She stopped, feeling a tear hit her hand, and she looked up, clearing her thoughts. She refused to think like that, to remember those things. That was in the past, and she needed to focus on her future. To clear her head, and distract herself, she headed downstairs.

Back in the lobby, she walked around, observing the famous waiting area. The Pokeathalon dome, at this time, was allowing kids and novice trainers to enter into practice competitions for fun. This benefited the dome in two ways: not having to pay to have their equipment tested before it was used by professionals, and also making some extra money, for it wasn't free to enter into the practice trials.

The West wing of the dome was where she walked from, passing the hotel room registration desk. The North wing was where the competitions were held, having a large registration counter where kids were lined up to pay and register for a practice game against their friends. Just behind that counter, through the large arched door, was the competition part of the dome.

There were benches and tables set up around the lobby, nearly all of them being vacant. She sat on one of them, releasing Honey and Cynder for company. They too took in the large grandiose lobby, until Honey's ear twitched.

"You hear that?" she asked Cynder, standing on her back legs to get a better listen.

Cynder cocked her head. "Hear what," she said, doubtful. "I don't hear-"

"Shh!" said the quilava, jumping up on the bench next to Toni. "Someone is… crying?"

Suddenly, she jumped down and ran off, skittering around the large statue in the center of the lobby. "Honey!" Toni called, standing and chasing her pokemon until she found her. On the other side of the statue, on a bench, was a young boy, crying into the fur of his growlithe.

Honey had stopped a few feet from him, watching him curiously. She scratched her ear with her front paw, thinking.

Toni, however, didn't stop to think. The boy reminded her too much of her own brothers, and she walked right up to him, sitting beside him. "Hey bud…" she began softly. "You okay?"

The boy looked up, puffy red eyes shiny with tears. He had orange growlithe fur stuck to his snotty nose, and had Toni not been so concerned, she probably would have started laughing.

"Are you okay?" she asked again, this time to his face.

He shook his head slowly, eyes looking down. "Trip and I just wanted to race our friends," he said slowly. "But I don't have enough money. And all my friends are gonna run without me and I can't!" he said, voice getting more unsteady as he went on. At the word 'can't' he shoved his face back into his growlithe's fur, crying again.

_Shit, _Toni thought, watching him. She could tell already what she was going to do, no matter her finances. It was just what needed to be done. She reached into her pockets, pulling out her wallet. She tapped the boy on the shoulder, and he raised his head again.

"How much is it?"


End file.
